Day 119,120,121 Central Otago

We decided to leave the coast and head inland for a look at Central Otago.  This part of the country is much more arid that the rest of New Zealand.  It also has the most extreme temperatures, one of the hottest places in the summer and one of the coldest in the winter.

The route into Central Otago had us backtracking south from Dunedin until Milton where we turned inland on Highway 8.   We travelled through some pretty nice farmland until we came to Beaumont.  It was here that we started following the Clutha River all the way into Alexandra where we spent a couple of nights.

Friendly Sheep Farmers



Working Sheep Ranch



As we followed the river toward Alexandra the terrain took on a whole different look.

We spent two days in Alexandra just enjoying the area and the weather.  It didn't rain except a little bit during the night.  The sun was shining and it was quite warm, windy but warm. 

Alexandra was founded in the 1860's during the Central Otago gold rush days and is located at the confluence of the Clutha and Manuherikia River. Today is a center for a large stone-fruit industry which would include grapes.  It is a pretty little town and we enjoyed our time here.

Day 118 Taieri Gorge Railway.

The sun is back.  It is a beautiful day, at least it will be for the morning as the weather man is calling for rain this afternoon.  We were okay with that as we were taking the train up into the Taieri Gorge this morning.

We thought the best way to do it was to take the local transit down to the train station. So we hopped on the bus and headed downtown.  The station was built in 1903 and in its early days was handling up to 100 trains a day.  Today, besides being the rail depot, it also houses the New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame.

Dunedin Train Station

We boarded the train for the four hour return trip that would take us 14 kilometers on the main line before turning north on the Taieri Gorge Line. 

Once we were on the Gorge Line we went through places like Wingatui, Mount Allan, Christmas Creek, The Notches and the Reef.  The story of how Wingatui got its name was that an early settler shot at a local bird.  He only winged it and the bird was a Tui.  Hence the name Wingatui.

We followed the Taieri River for most of the trip as it took us through farmland, plains, old gold fields and of course the Gorge.  We eventually climbed to a peak of 250 meters above sea level.  We crossed over viaducts both straight and curved.  We passed through numerous tunnels that were dug out with picks and shovels.  The longest being 437 meters or half a kilometer.

The building of the rail line began in 1879 but was not opened for use until 1889 and that was only to Hinton which was 27 kilometers from Dunedin.  It did not reach Cromwell, the end of the line, until 1921 which made the entire line 253 kilometers long.

It was a very enjoyable day as the scenery was quite nice, I wasn't driving and the rain held off until just before we got back into the station.  We had planned to do some other things downtown but with the rain we decided to have a late lunch and head back to the campsite.  We made it an early night as we are leaving Dunedin in the morning.

Day 116 & 117 Dunedin, Baldwin Street, Tunnel Beach

Today was the day we decided to have a look around downtown Dunedin.  The best way to navigate this town which is built on some very steep hills is to leave the camper at the park and take the bus. So that is what we did.

We spent most of our time in the Octagon which is the inner circle or hub of the city.  Many of the streets and suburbs have the same names as in Edinburgh, Scotland.  In fact the name comes from Dun Eideann, the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh.

We were going to go through the Cadbury Factory but we resisted.  Instead we just walked around and took a few pictures before heading back on the bus.

Tuesday (Day 117) was a glorious day, the sun was shining and there was no wind.  We had a couple of things planned today and the first was “The World’s Steepest Street”

Baldwin Street in Dunedin holds the Guinness Book Of Records as the Steepest Street in the World.  The grade is 35% and it is steep.  They do not let anything but small cars on the hill as there is no place to turn around.  It was quite a hike up the hill and until a few years ago they used to have a race that ended at the top of the street.  They called it the Gut Buster. 



Kiwi Rod and Dave stepping down.




Baldwin Street from the top



While we were there we met Dave Fernahan.  Believe it or not, Dave runs up and down Baldwin Street 30 times a day.  He estimates that he is has made the trip about 150,000 times.  Oh, did I mention that is he 60 years old.



Dave Fernahan

 The Kiwi’s have a saying that I think fits here.  Good on you Dave.  He was featured in the local paper back in 2006 when he was just a youngster.

http://www.odt.co.nz/your-town/dunedin/3290/baldwin-st-30-times-day

Dave was also gracious enough to take us a to a view point that we hoped would give us a majestic view of the city.  However, it was not to be as the fog had rolled in again.  We were able to get a view from a little lower down.

We were also shown one of the oldest houses in Dunedin.  It was built in the 1850’s but I assume it has been refurbished a little bit.

We said goodbye to Dave and headed for our last stop of the day.  Tunnel Beach.  The story here is that in 1870 John Cargill had the tunnel built so that his daughter had access to her own private beach.  Must be nice.

The track down to the beach is over private farm land. It descends from 500 feet at its start, winding for just short of a mile to the top of the tunnel.  The tunnel is 72 steps, very dimly lit and ends at the beach.



There are no flat hikes in New Zealand



The beach with its sand stone cliffs, caves and rock arches was quite unique.  It is 120 meters long with 50 foot walls on three sides.  Very private and very beautiful.

The climb back up just about did us in so we headed back to Dunedin and settled in for the night. In spite of the rain we got late in the afternoon it was a good day.